FC Arda Kardzhali


FC Arda 1924 Kardzhali is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Kardzhali that competes in First League, the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system.
It was founded on 13 October 1924, as an association football branch of a larger sports society in the town. The club was reestablished in 2015, after its former entity was dissolved.
Named after the Arda river, a tributary of the Maritsa, Arda's home ground is the Arena Arda in Kardzhali, which has a capacity of 15,000 spectators. For the majority of its existence, the club regularly participated in the Second League, with its highest-ever ranking a second-place finish during the 1955–56 Bulgarian Second League. In the Bulgarian Cup, Arda have reached the finals once, in 2021, losing to CSKA Sofia.
In 2018–19, Arda won the Second League promotion play-off against Septemvri Sofia, resulting in the club's first-ever appearance in the Bulgarian top division.
WWW Official Site

History

First Arda team (1924–2013)

Arda was established on August 10, 1924, under the name Rodopski Sokol, but later took the name Arda, derived from the nearby Arda River. From 1945 to 1957 the team was named Minyor until a year later when the previous name was put in use again. In 1956, the club finished as a runner-up in the B Group. They also reached the quarter-finals of the Bulgarian Cup during the 1959–60 campaign of the competition. In 1988 they secured the third place in the B Group. The Kardzhali club spend most of its time in the second and third levels of Bulgarian football, before getting dissolved in 2013 due to financial troubles.

Refounding (2015–2017)

The team suffered relegation from the V Group in 2013 and didn't compete in any league division until 2015 when they returned to the A Regional Group after reestablishment. In 2016, Arda achieved promotion to the Bulgarian Third League after a successful season and a 3–0 win in the play-off match against Lyubimets.

PSI Group ownership and promotion to the elite (2017–present)

In early June 2017, the club was purchased by Bulgarian road construction company PSI Group, in an attempt to develop a football project, inspired by the domestic and international success of Ludogorets. Two weeks later, former Levski Sofia player Elin Topuzakov was appointed as head coach and Emil Kremenliev was hired as sporting director. Subsequently, Petar Peshev was elected chairman of the club and was revealed that the new ownership would invest around €1 million in new signings, salaries and infrastructure around the stadium during the following South-East Third League season. All of this led to an amateur double during the 2017–18 season, as Arda won both its group and the Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League, resulting in a promotion to the Bulgarian Second League.
After the unsatisfactory results in the first 5 rounds, Elin Topuzakov was released as a manager and Stoycho Stoev was appointed, but on 6 March 2019 Stamen Belchev was appointed as the new manager, after Stoev reached an agreement with the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad. The team improved greatly, eventually managing a 3rd-place finish, enabling them to participate in the play-offs against relegation-avoider PFC Septemvri Sofia to enter the top level of Bulgarian football. Arda eventually won 0–1 over Septemvri at the Lokomotiv Stadium in Plovdiv, thus resulting in the club's first-time ever participation in the Bulgarian First League.

First seasons in the elite and Bulgarian Cup Final

Arda's first match in the Bulgarian top tier resulted in a 0–0 home draw against Botev Plovdiv. This was followed by an away 0–0 draw to Tsarsko Selo. Arda's first win came in the third round, when the team managed to beat Beroe Stara Zagora 3–1 at home. Arda then won their first away game in the top league, by beating Vitosa Bistritsa 1–3, extending their unbeaten run to four games. At the end of the first half of the season in December, Arda was in seventh place in the league, with seven wins, seven draws, and six losses. At the end of the regular season in June, Arda was in the relegation group. Despite this, on June 20, Arda secured their place in the First League for the upcoming season, after Botev Plovdiv beat Botev Vratsa 3–2.
Arda reached the final of the 2020–21 Bulgarian Cup, their first-ever participation at a final of the domestic cup. Arda faced CSKA Sofia, and lost by 1–0, in a closely fought game. A few days later, the team won the 2020–21 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)#Europa [Conference League play-off|Europa Conference League play-off] against Cherno More Varna and qualified for a European tournament for first time in their history. In the 2021–22 UEFA [Europa Conference League|Europa Conference League], Arda faced Israeli side Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Arda's general inexperience with European football caused an upsetting 0–2 home loss, followed by a 4–0 away loss, which eliminated Arda from the Europa Conference League.

Honours

Players

Current squad


''For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2025 and Transfers winter 2025–26.''

Foreign players

Up to twenty foreign nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian First League, however only five non-EU nationals can be used during a match day. Those non-EU nationals with European ancestry can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim Bulgarian citizenship after playing in Bulgaria for 5 years.
EU Nationals
EU Nationals
Non-EU Nationals

Records and notable stats

Club Records

Biggest home win in First League: Arda Kardzhali 5–0 Lokomotiv Plovdiv Arda Kardzhali 5–0 Lokomotiv Sofia Biggest away win in First League: Botev Plovdiv 0–5 Arda Kardzhali Biggest home loss in First League: Arda Kardzhali 0–4 Ludogorets Razgrad Biggest away loss in First League: Tsarsko Selo 4–0 Arda Kardzhali Unbeaten streak in First League : 11 Most consecutive wins in First League : 5

Notable players

For all players with a Wikipedia article see :Category:FC Arda Kardzhali players.
The footballers enlisted below have international caps for their respective countries or more than 100 caps for Arda. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.
;BulgariaMihail Aleksandrov
;EuropeRumyan HovsepyanCəlal HüseynovSlobodan RubežićDarko Glišić
;AfricaIlias HassaniDavid KikiFélix Eboa EboaAlie SesayEl Mami TetahOumar Sako
;Asia

European record

CompetitionPlayedWonDrewLostGFGAGDWin%

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Seasons

League positions


ImageSize = width:900 height:60
PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2026
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2005
Colors =
id:First_tier value:green legend:First_tier
id:Second_tier value:white legend:Second_tier
id:Third_tier value:red legend:Third_tier
id:Fourth_tier value:yellow legend:Fourth_tier
id:Fifth_tier value:blue legend:Fifth_tier
id:Does_not_exist value:black legend:Does_not_exist
PlotData=
bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift: text:12
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift: text:11
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift: text:11
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift: text:16
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift: text:12
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift: text:7
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift: text:11
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift: text:11
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift: text:18
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2013 color:red shift: text: "V Group"
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2015 color:black shift: text: Dissolved
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift: text:1
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 color:yellow shift: text: "Regional"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift: text:16
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift: text:1
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2018 color:red shift: text: "Third League"
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift: text:3
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 color:white shift: text: "2nd League"
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift: text:9
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift: text:4
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift: text:10
from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift: text:7
from:01/07/2023 till:01/07/2024 shift: text:8
from:01/07/2024 till:01/07/2025 shift: text:4
from:01/07/2025 till:01/07/2026 shift: text:
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2026 color:green shift: text: "1st League"

Past seasons

Key
ChampionsRunners-upPromotedRelegated